Source: ZVEI, VdL, click for enlarged view

The german Association of the circuit board industry (Verband der Leiterplattenindustrie, VDL) and the ZVEI Fachverband Electronic Components and Systems reports that in August 2008 the sales of circuit boards in Germany declined by 8.1 percent compared to July and 10.7 percent in comparison to same month of the previous year. One of the causes of this is seen by the Associations in that the month only had 21 working days compared to the normal 22-23. The cumulated sales of the current year to August was 1.3 percent above the comparable period of the previous year.

The orders received, however, were 24.3 percent lower than the August of the previous year. Reasons for this were, on the one hand, the declining economic demand in German and, on the other hand, that with the lifting of product interruptions during the Olympic Games, there was again more production in China. Cumulated, the value of the first 8 months of 2008 equalled that of the previous year. The number of employees in comparison to the previous year decreased by 1 percent. Especially time contracts for temporary staff were cancelled after the holiday period.